This model brings the mobile version of Unity in line with that used by desktop and web developers (the desktop indie licence was originally priced at $200). Until today, the basic mobile package previously cost $800, but using this version of the engine will no longer carry that tariff.

David Helgason:

"There are no strings attached, no royalties and no license fees. This is just an extension of Unity Free which we launched in 2009. Individual developers and startup studios can simply download Unity and get going on mobile game development. As before, companies and other “incorporated entities” (you know who you are) with a turnover in excess of $100,000 in their previous fiscal year are required to use our paid version. That way, we can keep the lights on and continue to make Unity better for everyone."

Currently limited to Android and iOS, developers on other platforms might feel a touch short-changed, but I would expect Unity for BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone to follow.

For the team behind Unity, they're expecting the number of developers using Unity to increase. After all, that's $800 knocked off the bottom line, and for hobby and small scale developers that could flip a game from making a loss to making a small yet significant return.

By increasing the number of users of Unity, Unity Technologies are pitching themselves as the de facto standard for mobile gaming. Naturally they'll be hoping that the small indie devs who move up a level will also move up a pricing tier with Unity and look at the Unity Pro licence ($1500) and the add-on team licence ($500) to allow for better collaboration. And those indie devs who move to the studios are going to want to stay with the tools they know and love, giving Unity a significant amount of mind-share in the mobile developer space. and more users of the paid version of the engine.